Economics, 3rd Edition (The Great Courses, 550)

Chantilly, Virginia: Teaching Company, 2005. DVD. Very Good. Thirty-six 30-minute lectures on six DVDs in original cases along with a paperback Course Guidebook. Light shelf and use wear. Not from a library.

These lectures require no special or advanced knowledge of mathematics. Instead, you will learn economics through intuitive explanations and in plain English.

Professor Timothy Taylor's first 18 lectures focus on "microeconomics," or looking at economics "from the bottom up." You will study the behavior of individuals, households, and firms; and how they interact in markets for goods, labor, and saving and investment. The second half of the course covers "macroeconomics," or studying the economy "from the top down." Here you will examine the factors that help economists evaluate the economy on a national and global scale.

You will learn that economics is essentially a way of thinking about big problems that face our society, and that economists sometimes think very differently about these issues than the rest of us do.

Economics isn't just about numbers: It's about politics, psychology, history, inventions, and countless other aspects of human endeavor. As a result, it never lacks for interesting, surprising, or amusing content.

36 Lectures:
1 How Economists Think
2 Division of Labor
3 Supply and Demand
4 Price Floors and Ceilings
5 Elasticity
6 The Labor Market and Wages
7 Financial Markets and Rates of Return
8 Personal Investing
9 From Perfect Competition to Monopoly
10 Antitrust and Competition Policy
11 Regulation and Deregulation
12 Negative Externalities and the Environment
13 Positive Externalities and Technology
14 Public Goods
15 Poverty and Welfare Programs
16 Inequality
17 Imperfect Information and Insurance
18 Corporate and Political Governance
19 Macroeconomics and GDP
20 Economic Growth
21 Unemployment
22 Inflation
23 The Balance of Trade
24 Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand
25 The Unemployment-Inflation Tradeoff
26 Fiscal Policy and Budget Deficits
27 Countercyclical Fiscal Policy
28 Budget Deficits and National Saving
29 Money and Banking
30 The Federal Reserve and Its Powers
31 The Conduct of Monetary Policy
32 The Gains of International Trade
33 The Debates over Protectionism
34 Exchange Rates
35 International Financial Crashes
36 A Global Economic Perspective